Can synthetic fuels save the flat-six Porsche 911?

There we were, rushing headlong into the arms of electrification, whipped by a looming ban on the sale of combustion-engined cars, only for an announcement that, no, new cars with engines might be just fine beyond 2035 – so long as they’re synthetically fuelled.

Efuel & the Porsche 911

Car makers including Porsche and Ferrari have long sought an exemption for so-called eFuels on the grounds of carbon neutrality. While eFuelled engines still emit carbon, they’re virtually carbon-zero when considered holistically because making the fuel scrubs carbon from the atmosphere and uses renewable energy.

In March it was reported that the European Union is working on draft plans to give eFuelled cars an exemption from the engine ban. While likely to be expensive and not without technical challenges (the EU’s keen for a technology that would prevent the car running should it be filled with fossil-derived fuel), eFuels certainly look to make sense for niche, enthusiast machines used sparingly.

Porsche-backed Chile plant is already making eFuels